Review on Skytech Shiva 🎮 Gaming Desktop with HD DisplayPort by Malik Louis

Coincidentally, Revain had a $200 rebate on a Skytech Shiva with the following specs: i5-11400f, 3060 (12GB), 16GB RAM, 1TB NVMe. This increased the list price from $1399 to $1199. I've just spent the last week tweaking various builds in PcPartPicker and have consistently been getting $800-$1000 for similar components but no GPU. When I saw the discounted price I decided to take the plunge. Skytech bill themselves as a PC manufacturer "for gamers, by gamers," meaning they strive to maximize their value for money by using branded components. Anticipating a two day shipping window, I've been reading Skytech reviews outside of Revain where their kits get an average of 4+ stars. Good . Reddit is full of horror stories that had me concerned about this purchase, but knowing I had 30-day risk-free protection from Revain decided to stay the course. Packing: 4.5/5. String bags sandwiched between styrofoam racks, perfectly matched to the shipping carton. Inside you will find a dated and signed QC form (mine was made on 28th January 2022); a folder with tips for maintaining your PC, troubleshooting instructions if the system won't start, and a support contact card. You also get a separately packaged full-size mouse and keyboard with braided cables. Inside the case itself, to protect the GPU and CPU, they have a bubble guard that conforms to the shape. Chassis and Components: 4 / 5 The chassis is a mid-size tower with a glass cover and an all-metal frame on plastic legs. It looks solid and well made with no visible flaws or blemishes. Inside, the attention to detail continues, with all cables carefully tied together. All of the case's fans are connected to a small, one-button fan controller to cycle through the RGB patterns (I prefer the default "breathing" pattern). 6 and Gen-4 PCIe; the processor is actually an i5-11400 model (no "f"), meaning it has an iGPU ($179); normal processor cooler; RAM – ADATA XPG Gammix D20 ($60); NVMe Drive - Western Digital Blue Generation 3 ($95); and the GPU is a Gigabyte Gaming 3060 OC 12GB ($799). Overall, I'm happy with the components, but for the price, I'd rather see a G.Skill Ram ($89), a custom CPU cooler ($45), and an NVMe upgraded to Gen4 WD Black ($99). .First start and setup: 5/5 Loads instantly, no problem. Windows 10 installation took about an hour and a half to go through all the system updates and install the free upgrade to Windows 11. BIOS boot can be too fast - you have half a second to press "Clear" to enter BIOS, which is what I had to do to enable the XMP profile in RAM for a 3200MHz speed. No viruses from Skytech. From 1 TB I had 970 GB freely available. System performance: 4.5. /5 My biggest problem at the moment is the volume of the case fans. I live in a one bedroom apartment and I can easily hear the fans anywhere in my apartment. It's not a jet engine, it's a solid one. I can hear them in my headphones and right now when I'm listening to music on the bookshelf speakers I can still hear the fans. Of course you can change that in the BIOS, but I don't find the MSI EZBoot menus that easy (compared to Asus). After the 30 day return period is over I will most likely replace the fans with Noctuas. I bought it specifically to prepare for Total War: Warhammer 3 and to play Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 with my friends. Warhammer 3 isn't out yet. and Halo Infinite is buggy BUT I ran the Warhammer 2 test and with Ultra for 1080p it averages 90 fps. I encountered an issue last night where the Wi-Fi kept losing my signal while playing Age of Empires 4 online cooperative. . My previous computer had a 1650 OC and while these games ran fine, the screen would crack on and off. So far, the 3060 has not experienced any tearing or frame rate drops. The overall performance of the system is fast, responsive, and reliable. CPU and GPU temperature while gaming is 70s. Summary: Skytech's next pick is the $1599 option with the 5600x and 3060ti. That $200 (14%) increase over the $1399 list price for the 11400f and 3060 may seem justified. The 3060ti alone is about 40% faster than the 3060. However, there are a few things to consider: 1. Your state tax. Mine is 8.75% which is $1738 (5600x) vs $1521 (11400 list) vs $1303 (11400 discount).2. You pay the premium for finished goods. Assuming Skytech can buy components in bulk, markups are likely $550 (5600x) vs $450 (11400 list) vs $250 (11400 discount). . However, with Skytech you seem to be getting a great product that comes ready to use and since you and I can't buy bulk, Skytech's prices aren't that crazy compared to DIY. And if like me you can get a discount, even better.